


Silent Tears

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, How Do I Tag, Steve is sad, Stony if you squint, Tony Stark Dies, but not really, i wrote this when i was 11, it's sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-02 18:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20816813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He almost tells her to stop being an idiot, because she knows what he’s going to say. She knows what will happen, she knows if they will fail or succeed. But he doesn’t say anything, because she’s letting him have this moment, this last moment, and Tony decides he’s going to face this like a man, without the snarky comments or self deprecating jokes or any of the other shit he usually pulls on people in these situations. There’s so much that he still wants to do, like maybe give Peter some more mentoring, and catch up with Bruce a little, and tie the knot with Pepper. God, he doesn't want her to be alone. Doesn’t want the apology that he owes Steve to go unspoken. Doesn’t want to add another body to the endless pit that sits in the heart of the girl standing in front of him.





	Silent Tears

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this when I was 11, so it was before even Thor Ragnarok came out. It's basically my 11 year old self's prediction for Avengers 3. There is a self-insert character in this fic, tbh idk why, but you don't need to know anything about her to understand it. I don't remember what compelled me to write this but it's pretty angsty and could be a stony fic, so there you are. Just trust me.

“Stark.”  
Tony turns, finds himself staring into those two eyes, crackling with electricity. They glow through the dusty haze, like two blue searchlights. He feels relieved. Ren won’t deter him.  
“If you go up there, you will die,” She says, her face unreadable. She states it how it is, without sugarcoating it. She’s not trying to stop him, or tell him that he shouldn’t go. He knows that death is a trivial thing for her, because she’d told him once. He doesn’t know even a fraction of what she’s lost, what she’s seen, what she’s done. From the few things Tony had pried out of her… he can’t even begin to imagine it, any of it. Isn’t sure he wants to.  
“What choice do I have?” His voice is barely over a whisper.  
“There is always a choice,” she replies, and this time, Tony doesn’t mind putting up with this hopeless bullshit. Because it’s familiar, gives him a reason to stay longer, hear her voice. Her presence is comforting, even if it wasn’t when he’d first met her. That wasn't so long ago, not really. His life, a tiny, insignificant point in the vastness of the multiverse. That’s what Ren told him, and ever since he’d questioned his life, it’s worth. But now, in the face of death, he knows that it’s worth something to him, at least. “But what is the right choice? That is the harder question.”  
“Do you know the answer?”  
“No. It is one of those unanswerable questions. The solution, I think, is for you to decide. You are making the choice, so you must choose. No one else.”  
“Ren, have I ever told you that you talk nothing like a teenager?”  
“Once or twice,” she replies casually. Too casually.  
“Ren…”  
“What, Stark?”  
He almost tells her to stop being an idiot, because she knows what he’s going to say. She knows what will happen, she knows if they will fail or succeed. But he doesn’t say anything, because she’s letting him have this moment, this last moment, and Tony decides he’s going to face this like a man, without the snarky comments or self deprecating jokes or any of the other shit he usually pulls on people in these situations. There’s so much that he still wants to do, like maybe give Peter some more mentoring, and catch up with Bruce a little, and tie the knot with Pepper. God, he doesn't want her to be alone. Doesn’t want the apology that he owes Steve to go unspoken. Doesn’t want to add another body to the endless pit that sits in the heart of the girl standing in front of him.  
“Tell Pep… tell her I love her.”  
“I will,” Ren says. “But she already knows that.”  
She looks at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something. He knows what she wants, but he’s still too much of a stubborn ass to say it.  
“There’s someone else who maybe doesn’t know that they mean something to you. You know who I’m talking about, Tony.” With the use of his first name, something snaps in him. That protective coating maybe, maybe it finally broke, but too late. Much too late. He nods with reluctance.  
“Yeah.” His voice breaks. It takes a lot to throw Tony Stark. Of course, it’s his own death. Selfish bastard he is.  
Like a man, Tony.  
Ren holds her wrist out, the small recording light flashing.  
Tony clears his throat.  
“Uh-Rog-Steve- I- I’m sorry.”  
Ren nods in approval when he’s finished. “Didn’t know you had it in you,” she says, smiling sadly. She looks up into the sky, her eyes taking on a distant gaze. Tony knows that look. He’s worn it himself, once or twice. Ren’s mind is somewhere else.  
“You’re a lucky man, Tony Stark,” she tells him, still looking at the sky. “Don’t you ever forget it.” He flips his faceplate down so she won’t see his silent tears.  
“Never.”

~

“Rogers.”  
Steve looks up, but finds himself unable to meet Ren’s eyes. He knows she was the last person to talk to Tony. He’s been avoiding her, because she didn’t stop him from going, and he can’t let it go. Can’t stop thinking about it every time he sees her. Being Steve Rogers, he isn’t known to strongly dislike people. But Ren… he’s just angry. “You’re taking Stark’s death pretty hard.”  
“He was my friend,” he replied coldly. He hopes she’ll take a hint that he really doesn’t want her here.  
“Look, I know you’re upset-” hint noticed, but she’s not leaving.“-but I have something for you. From Tony.”  
He finds himself unable to mask his curiosity. “What?” She hands him a hard drive.  
“Me and you were never exactly on goods terms. Well, our introduction was pretty much me stabbing you, so I guess that’s reason to hold a grudge. But I just thought maybe we could make up before I go.”  
He looks up at her in surprise.  
“You’re- leaving?” He finds himself disappointed for some reason.  
She nods. “I’ve got no reason to stay here. I only really knew Tony, and everyone else has one reason or another to hate me. Except for maybe Parker.”  
“He’s falling for you pretty hard.”  
She laughs gently.  
“I didn’t notice.”  
There’s a comfortable silence for a moment as they gather their thoughts. Ren sits on the edge of the table, looking out the window into the breathtaking Wakanda. She doesn’t seem very impressed by it, but Steve’s heard she’s from another world entirely.  
“Where are you going?” He asks, simply out of curiosity.  
She heaves a sigh, a sound that someone her age should not make. Her appearance is one of almost a child, but in reality Steve knows she is so much older.  
She looks at him sideways.  
“I don’t really know yet.”  
Ren presses the hard drive into his palm. For the first time, he really looks at her. And her eyes… they’re moving. It looks like a constant storm of lightning swirling around in the striking electric blue. She’s breathtaking. But then she turns away.  
“Tell the others I said goodbye. That I had to leave on short notice.”  
“You haven’t told anyone else you’re leaving?”  
Ren shakes her head, smiling to herself, at least he thinks that’s what she’s doing. It looks to him like she just set up a spectacularly brilliant prank, and she’s waiting for someone to walk into it.  
“What? What are you laughing at?” He demands.  
“Oh, nothing. Just how little you know- it overwhelms me sometimes.” Ren doesn’t elaborate further, and Steve doesn’t ask. “You’ve got a big heart, man,” she says, which freaks him out a little because she looks to be twenty at the oldest, at least ten years younger than him. “Just make sure you keep it in the right place.” Then she gives a swift little motion of her hand and that swirly blue cloud appears again, like the one from when she first came. She steps through it, not looking back, and then she’s gone. It’s too sudden, and he feels strangely empty.  
He fiddles with the little hard drive in his fingers. It’s small and delicate, and he feels like he’s going to break it. He shoves it into the little outlet on the edge of the table and a screen immediately pops up. He’s always been surprised how far technology’s come, since waking up out of the ice.  
It’s just a recording, and Steve watches the scraggly lines moves up and down in time with the audio.  
_Uh-Rog-Steve- I- I’m sorry._  
Hearing Tony’s voice causes his throat to clench. Like most Stark confessions, Steve knows this will be awkward, but meant wholeheartedly.  
_I really am, because I freaked out, and I ended everything we’d built. And you totally started it-Steve chuckles at that-but I ended it. And I’m sorry I did, especially in the way it went down. And I know I remind you a lot of my father. You remind me of him sometimes, too, with all your old fashioned ways. Gramps, you were an important part of the team, and you’re my- you’re my friend. Even after what happened, I thought about it, and I couldn’t be mad at you. You’re just- you’re so damn perfect, I can’t hate you._  
There’s the sound of screaming and gunfire in the background.  
_Look, Tony continues hastily, just- goodbye, Cap’n. Take care of yourself, alright? And make sure that that Parker kid doesn’t get himself into any deep shit. Try to be there for Pepper. Please._  
The recording ends abruptly, and Steve lets a single tear slip from the corner of his eye. Captain America is crying. He wasn’t even sure he could. After the ice he didn’t think he’d find anyone worth caring about. He’d just be S.H.I.E.L.D.’s tool. But the people he’d met in this world have a place in his heart, just like Peggy and his mother and the howling commandos and everyone else that he lost. The old Bucky. He looks up towards the ceiling, the tears streaming down his face, and he asks God if He can tell Tony that Steve is sorry too, and he wishes that Ironman could still be around. Ren left, he tells God. She’s confusing, he says, but he doesn’t dislike her anymore.  
Tony wasn’t religious, but Steve hopes he’ll be in Heaven. He hopes that even if Tony is in Hell, God will tell him anyway because Steve goes to church every Sunday unless there’s world saving to do, and he prays before he goes to bed every night.  
You’re a lucky man, Tony Stark.


End file.
